Cubans Feel Like Hostages to Both Castro and Trump

Ivan Garcia, 19 June 2017 — "Impotence." This is the word that a performer in the Gui?ol Theater (located in the basement of the FOCSA building in Havana's Vedado district) uses when asked her opinion of the new Trump Doctrine regarding Cuba.

On a day of African heat, a group of eight waits to navigate the Internet in a hall administered by the state-run telecommunications monopoly ETECSA. The performer exchanges opinions with the others regarding the event of the week: the repeal by Donald Trump's administration of Obama's policy of d?tente.

On the street, for those Cubans who earn only token salaries, breakfast on coffee alone and complain constantly about the inefficiency of public services and the government's inability to improve the quality of life, political machination is just an annoyance.

Human Rights, democracy and political liberties all sound good, but they are not understood in their full context. At least, this is what can be deduced from the opinions expressed by the people waiting in line. Some make clear that they are speaking from their personal perspective, that they watched Trump on Telesur but have yet to read the measures for themselves.

For lack of time, and the propaganda fatigue brought on by the barrage from the official press–which has caused many compatriots to decide to not keep up with news reports but instead take shelter in social-media gossip–the group waiting to go online is shooting to kill in all directions.

"Everybody talks about 'the people,' about the 'dissidents,' about the Cuban American congressmen over there, about the government over here, but nobody has hit on the formula for us to derive benefits from a particular policy. Obama tried, but the gerontocracy that rules us did not allow private business owners to get ahead. I feel like a hostage, to Castro and to Trump. A puppet," the performer confesses.

One lady, a loquacious and chain-smoking housewife, asks, in a tone of disgust, "What have the people gained from Obama's policy? Nothing." And she explains to herself, "Those people (the government) don't want to change. They will not give up," she says ironically, "the honey of power. Trump is a crazy man, a clown. The guy is a pill. His speech was pure theater. It's all cheap politicking. And in the middle of it all, we Cubans are–and will remain–screwed. Nobody can change this [regime], and nobody can take it down, either."

A self-employed worker affirms that he does not see a solution to Cubans' problems because "we haven't had the balls to confront the arbitrariness of the government. To hold on and and get screwed, that's our fate. With all his yammering, the only thing Trump will achieve is that the 'revolutionary reaffirmation' marches will start up again, condemning 'yankee interference.' You can already see that coming."

At a park in Old Havana there are no optimists to be found, either. On the contrary. "Damn, brother, I thought that The One was going to put back the Wet-Foot/Dry-Foot law. The only way this shit's going to be resolved is letting people leave Cuba. You think that over here the folks are going to sign up with the Ladies in White to get beaten up? No, man, people will mind their own business, getting by under the table and trying to scrape together a few pesos. There is no way that Cubans will take to the streets. Unless it's to get in line at foreign consulates, or if Gente de Zona put on a free concert," declares a young man in the Parque del Curita, waiting for the P-12 line to Santiago de las Vegas.

Almost 60 years since the protracted and sterile political arm-wrestling between the various US administrations and the Castro brothers, a broad segment of the citizenry sees itself caught in a no-man's land–in a futile battle for which nobody, not the Cuban rulers nor the US, has asked their permission. They think also that political naivet? has always reigned supreme in the White House, given the oft-repeated intentions to export democratic values to a fraternity of autocrats with the mentality of gangsters and neighborhood troublemakers.

"It is a narrative replete with personal ambitions, pseudo-patriotic elation and cheap nationalism, which has served only to consolidate a history of sovereign and intransigent rulers who never allowed North American interference. It's fine for a tale, but this politics of confrontation on both sides has left only one winner: the regime of Fidel and Ra?l Castro. The rest of us have been the losers. Those who were not in agreement with the Revolution or who wanted to emigrate were called 'gusanos' [worms]. Families were split up and kept from having contact with relatives in the US. The result of all this is what we see today: a great number of Cubans who cannot tolerate those who think differently from them, many who want to emigrate, women who don't want to have children in their homeland and, in general, a great indifference on the part of citizens towards the problems of their country," explains a Havana sociologist.

The official reaction has been restrained. For now. A functionary with the Communist Party assures me that "the government is not going to wage a frontal campaign to discredit Trump. Yes, of course, the various institutions of the State will mobilize to demonstrate that the government has it all under control. But Trump's speech was more noise than substance. Except for the matter of US citizens' travel to Cuba, which undoubtedly will affect the national economy, the rest [of the Obama-era policies] remains in place, because the military-run businesses are only two hotels.

The owner of a paladar [private restaurant] in Havana believes that "if the yumas [Cuban slang for Americans] stop coming there will be effects on the private sector, because almost all of them stay in private homes, travel around the city in convertible almendrones [classic cars], and eat lunch and dinner in private paladares."

The news was not good for Cubans who had plans to emigrate to the US. "Many dreamers thought that Trump was a cool guy and would reinstate the Wet-Foot/Dry-Foot policy. I was not expecting as much, but I thought at least that the Cuban-American congressmen would influence Trump's allowing the exceptional granting of visas to Cubans stuck in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, and reactivating the asylum for Cuban medical workers who have deserted their missions," said a engineer who dreams of resettling in Miami.

The perception right now among Cubans on the street is that they are back to a familiar scenario. One of trenches. Replete with anti-imperialist rhetoric and zero tolerance for liberal thought of any stripe. The scenario most favorable for the hierarchs who dress in olive green.